Heavyweight division - Has it ever been as boring?

There have always been boring fights in the Heavyweight division, the 80's had there bad moments with The lazy's Tubbs,Page,Witherspoon, Fat lazy heavys who leaned on each other for the most partZZZZZZZ boring, Ali had his share of boring fights Rudi Lubbers,Mac Foster,Buther Mathis,Blue Lewis,Alfredo Evangelista,Jurgen Blin, Holmes had Tex Cobb,David Bey,Alfredo Evangelisa,Lucien Rodriguez. Sometimes it is a matter of styles and I think it was a case of 2 counterpunchers the other night, Vlad was winning with the jab and wanted to win, Ruslin was kept at bay once he felt Vlads power in the right hand and the jab, he lost his optimism to take a punch to land one. I think a lot of the Russian Heavys like Sultan,Ruslin,Vlad are thinking fighters who want to impose there will and in this fight they were stuck with the 1st move the JAB and only Vlads landed

 

You even go back to the days of Johnson and Jeffries where those guys did a lot of holding. I can imagine those fights were pretty boring.

 

Too right; I saw about 18 rounds of Johnson/Willard.... it was just plain awful. Johnny Nelson's nickname lacks irony if that is the standard of boxing we judge every fight by!

 

It was Sultan who opted not to risk it vs Wlad. Ruslan didn't fight Wlad.

 

I think, physically, the heavyweights today are past the point of astonishing performances. I mean, I'm talking about those feats of speed and agility that popped out of the screen or made you look twice: Johnson delivering a leaping right uppercut from the outside against Ketchel; Ali evading Terrell's lefts with a kind of fluidity never seen before or since; these are part and parcel proof of the greatness that once dwelled in the division. I mean not to disparage the top performers of the present; most of them are effective and get the job done. But, for now, the excitement has left, and the glamour division is the domain of the heavyset.

Wlad carries his weight well enough comparatively, but his style, well, it really is prohibitive.

 

Not to mention a lot of the champions were only fighting once a year at best.

The heavyweight division is definitely in a slump today, but the thing is.... you're most likely to remember Ali for his thrillers with Foreman, Frazier I & III, but forget about his fights with Frazier II, Lubbers, Wepner, etc. All grade A stinkers. This was literally the first Wladimir fight that was boring. That's one out of 53 or so fights.

 

I think that the letdown of the Klitschko-Ibragimov fight was more Sultan's doing than it was Wlad's. Klitschko at least used his jab, and in one of the rare instances that he fired his right, nearly sent ibragimov through the ropes. He did his part by winning every round. Ibragimov did everything from crouching, running, clinching, but did not fight. It takes the efforts of two men to make a good battle. Ibragimov did not engage Klitschko, and Wlad was wise not to chase him. He did what he needed to do to win. That's really all that needs to be said.

 

Very boring now, also was boring around 1980, when John Tate et al were at the top.

 

very true:good

 

I've found a few of Wlad's fights boring.
The wins over Byrd and Brock weren't exactly exciting, IMO. Nor was his fight with Peter.
I'm not keen on his style, esp. since he got beat by Brewster.
But if others enjoy, then that's fair.

I dont judge the whole division on one fighter or one fight though. Generally there is not much excitement there. No personalities, no devastating knock out artists, or graceful technicians boxer-punchers.
Lots of guys with bland styles. Some good fighters, but ugly or uninteresting to look at.

 

That pretty much sums it up I think. There are no Mike Tyson's, George Foreman's, Lennox Lewis's, Muhammad Ali's, Larry Holmes's or Evander Holyfields. 15 years ago, you had all of the above names in the same division at the same time( except for Ali of course ). In addition, you have no personalities or personal rivalries. Who can we name that had the funny cheerful personality of George Foreman, or the badass attitude of Mike Tyson, or the heartfilled warrior that was Evander Holyfield? The only thing that today's heavyweight division isn't lacking in is the abundance of meaningless titles. ****, I've lost track of how many there are: WBO, WBA, WBC, IBF, IBC, IBO, WBF, WBU, IBA. I probably left out a half a dozen of them, but what the hell? In 20 years, every registered fighter in the world will probably have a belt around his waste.

 

Maskaev-Peter should be a good fight. If Wlad is fighting another counterpuncher it is going to be boring with little action. If this kid Povetkin gets a shot he will be on the attack and Wlad will not have to initiate the action. Wlad reminds me somewhat of a HW version of Roy Jones Jr. Hit and jump out of the pocket when the other guy returns fire. An intelligent way to fight but not exactly crowd pleasing. Sadly, Chaguev seemed very boring also. The giant's (Valuev) are almost all very boring. Maskaev and Povetkin have provided excitement in many of their fights. The days of electrifying fights in the Tyson, Holyfield, Bowe era sadly seem to be long over IMO.